Over-Paid Footballers At It Again

So as the Olympics came to a beautiful end on Sunday night you could really feel that it was an end of an era. Never has so many different sports united a country in the way our home Olympiad has. Performances from Take That, Madness and Spice Girls not including the Who! just show how much this country wanted to put GB on the world stage, In my opinion with 29 gold medals and plenty more silver and bronze we can see the games as a huge success. It has not only brought people together but also allowed more and more youngsters to join into these sports like cycling and co. Tears and elation were shared throughout the fortnight but in essence the fact that it's over serves almost as an anti-climax.

These pictures just how much of a show was put on last night, everything came together in a flash of brilliance but to only call it a flash would be insulting to the whole spectacle. All the countries united once again and there was an element of sentiment in the air that everything was over and another 4 years was to suffice. Whether you like the artists performing or not it's not worth underestimating their value to the country. It's hard to summarise in words what this whole event did for this country but I hope that it at least inspired everyone to be better people, better athletes. The moment when it really felt like everything was disappearing was the handover to Brazil as the next host nation you could feel the whole country not only take a deep breath of relief but share a moment of sadness as everything leaves. 

So London 2012 a definite success but leaves a mourning in each and every one of us that the chance to see the Olympics on a home stage has gone and passed us already. One thing is for sure the athletes of GB should be proud of themselves even the parents of the athletes and the coaches and everyone involved deserves a huge line of credit just for applying themselves so well in the tournament. People like Jessica Ennis, Mo Farah and Chris Hoy don't just come along every few months it takes time to build superstars and even longer to mould them but one thing for sure is that the future's bright in Great Britain and long may it continue.

On A Slightly Different Flavour

First game of the season and it's known as the curtain raiser a mere friendly to raise money for charities and communities with very little on offer and after the Olympics a chance to put football on the world stage again for the good. It seemed like despite the wet conditions that both sides came to entertain but then football had it's wicked way again as petulant over-paid superstars were acting like children again. We saw it a few days before with Rafael of Manchester United acting nothing like of a role model when he was substituted, you would think they would understand by now.

There were a few nasty tackles coming in early in this game and you could feel the temperature simmering and for what practically a meaningless friendly, Football as we know is a powerful weapon but it's features are less than satisfying. Yellow cards were being handed out like they were already pre-written out. Add that to the fact we had some players like Eden Hazard just throwing themselves to the floor it's really why we fell in love with the Olympics and not football for this season. The fact Branislav Ivanovic went for a two footed lunge on Kolarov in the 40th minute of a friendly clearly illustrates how desperate of help the game needs. It's almost embarrassing that we have these players who are paid in excess of 50 thousand a week but can't hold their temperament for everyone watching. I understand that in the match situation that the heat of the moment can prevail but not every minute of the match it's insulting. The London 2012 Medallists from GB they don't have these so called wages they even have to earn jobs on side to help so why do they behave themselves and behave like icons in today's society, simply one word... respect.

Despite some exciting football in the season half there were still more cards to come and some tackles well which make you just want to take up a new sport in whole. Man City won the tie 3-2 with goals from Yaya Toure, Carlos Tevez and Samir Nasri in contrast to goals from Fernando Torres and Ryan Bertrand but the result was insignificant it's the consequences that once again we can see that football really is losing it's way with it's fans. Where do we go from here? well that's a question we shall see answered over the course of the season. There needs to be a change somewhere so we can see some decency and fair play and at least some courtesy instead of players trying to get others sent off and diving around throwing their bodies around like children it's not why we all fell in love with the sport and could be the reason we fall out of live with it.
For me 2012 will always be about London 2012 and everything within and you would be mad to look past that.

Much Appreciated
D.John